GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

The study was carried out to find out the influence of class furniture and school infrastructure on preschoolers’ performance in social habits. The study was conducted in Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District. Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District is comprised of nine local government areas, namely: Etinan, Ibesikpo Asutan, Ibiono Ibom, Itu, Nsit Atai, Nsit Ibom, Nsit Ubium, Uruan, and Uyo. The population of this study consisted of all the 13,649 nursery two pupils among registered private nursery/primary schools in Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District. A sample size of 500 pupils from 327 registered nursery schools was used for the study. The sampling technique used in this study was a multi-stage sampling procedure (cluster sampling and simple random sampling techniques). The instrument used in this study for data collection was a questionnaire titled "Preschoolers’ Social Habits Performance Test Questionnaire (PSHPTQ)". Face and content validation of the instrument was carried out by an expert in test, measurement, and evaluation from the University of Uyo to ensure that the instrument has the accuracy, appropriateness, and completeness for the study under consideration. Also, the content validation was carried out using the test blueprint on Preschoolers’ Social Habits Performance Test. The reliability coefficient obtained was 0.80, and this was high enough to justify the use of the instrument. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while independent t-test analysis was used to test the hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The study concluded that the performance in social habits of preschoolers accompanied by social culture, class furniture, and school infrastructure was remarkable than the academic performance of preschoolers with low or without these variables. One of the recommendations made in the study was that the classroom should be replete with comfortable furniture and should be kept in a favourable arrangement and condition because it can affect preschoolers’ behaviour in the classroom.